A Consumer Reports analysis found disturbingly high levels of salmonella and other bacteria in chicken sold at retailers and a new report [PDF] from the Pew Charitable Trusts calls for stronger U.S. food safety standards.

“When more than 500 people get sick from two outbreaks associated with chicken that meets federal safety standards, it is clear that those standards are not effectively protecting public health,” said Sandra Eskin, director of Pew’s food safety project, in a statement.

Pew researchers looked at two outbreaks that came from chicken at Foster Farms in Calif., the sixth largest chicken producer in the U.S. The first occurred between June 2012 and May 2013 and infected 134 people in Oregon and Washington with salmonella Heidelberg. Another outbreak started in March 2013, and is ongoing. So far, 389 people in 23 states and Puerto Rico were sickened from a variety of salmonella Heidelberg strains. Many of these strains are resistant to several commonly prescribed antibiotics.

The Pew researchers say that current food safety policies are not protecting Americans and need to be strengthened.

According to USA Today, until recently the U. S. Department of Agriculture did not require manufacturers to maintain germ-free conditions throughout the butchering and processing phases, and allowed for some contamination to occur, as long as the bacteria was removed by washing or with antimicrobial treatments. On Dec. 4, the USDA announced a Salmonella Action Plan and is working on an updated Poultry Processing Rule in n effort to prevent raw meat from becoming contaminated. “It’s not feasible to take a live animal and remove its outsides and its insides without there being contamination, but we can minimize it,” Dan Englejohn, deputy assistant administrator of USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service, told USA Today.

The Food and Drug Administration also released new antibiotic guidelines for agriculture last week, in order to limit use of the drugs to treating animals that are sick, rather than using them as a way to boost growth, as many farmers currently do. Those steps may be critical to ensuring that the chicken that consumers buy contains less of the potentially harmful bacteria that Consumer Reports found — 79.8% of the poultry from retailers contained enterococcus, 65.2% contained E. coli, and 10.8% had salmonella contamination.

Most of the bacteria won’t cause disease if the chicken is cooked properly, to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, say health experts, but if more microbes are present, bacteria can be transferred to utensils and cooking areas and potentially expose people and make them sick.

Communicating outbreaks to consumers over public health alerts as early as possible.

Closing facilities under investigation for failing to produce safe food, and keep them closed until adequate control measures are in place

Whether the USDA will implement these measures, and whether they will help to reduce microbial contamination of raw poultry, remains to be seen. In a statement responding to the reports, the National Chicken Council, a trade group for the poultry industry, noted that 99.9% of the 160 million servings of chicken Americans eat each day are safe. Mike Brown, the group’s president said, “Eliminating bacteria entirely is always the goal. But in reality, it’s simply not feasible.”

Given time, will our bodies develop a resistance to these antibiotic-resistant-bacteria? If so, given more time will other bacteria develop a resistance to our bodies' resistance? And, given still more time...

ALOE VERA NOURISHMENT, HEALING, AND PREVENTION OF DISEASE: Numerous
scientific studies at
universities and colleges have shown that the Aloe vera plant is loaded
with a myriad of nutrients (i.e. a wide spectrum of vitamins, minerals,
phytonutrients, amino acids) which all together help prevent all sorts
of disease and to heal disease. Drinking aloe vera juice (a whole food)
is one of the most nutritious things you can do for your body. Aloe vera
isn't just for topical use on skin!

Read my popular Internet article, CHEMOTHERAPY SUCCESS WITH ALOE
VERA! This is a must read article for all those diagnosed with cancer or
who have a loved one who is. Just google the title to access the
article. There are properties in aloe vera that greatly strengthen the
immune system and help protect the immune system and healthy cells from
being destroyed by chemo and radiation. The result is that (when taking
aloe vera juice duing chemo/radiation) the cancer cells are destroyed
while the immune system and more of the healthy cells survive. The
properties in aloe vera also help chemo/radiation patients suffer a lot
less side effects from the chemo/radiation treatments.

As a daily routine for good health, adults should take at least 8 oz.
of aloe vera juice daily, and children should take at least 4 oz.
daily. And, yes, you can give your pets this too. Pour a couple of
tablespoons daily in their water dish.

Babu G. Ranganathan(B.A. Bible/Biology)

THE BEST WEAPON AGAINST GERMS OF ALL KINDS is colloidal silver.
Germs, including viruses of all types, cannot develop resistance to
colloidal silver.

Please read my Internet article, PROTECT YOUR BODY WITH COLLOIDAL SILVER. Just google the title to access the article.

If you got sick (as I am right now), you'd care. Young and healthy, never had food poisoning in my life (until now). My current advice: don't eat meat that you don't cook yourself. Minimizing antibiotic use on poultry prevents super-bugs and is a good idea, too.

There's a difference between what's safe to eat and what isn't. In the case of chicken, it's about 165 degrees.

Virtually EVERY piece of chicken contains bacteria that, if eaten raw, would likely sicken someone (usually, but not always, those who have weak immune systems). Properly COOKED, however, it's perfectly safe regardless of the raw chicken bacteria count. The fact is, people get sick over chicken because it's UNDERCOOKED.

Those who get sick eating properly cooked chicken didn't get it from the chicken. They probably got it from the potato salad that was left out for too long.

@Realworldnonfantasyland I like your analogy, but your statistics aren't correct. A hell of a lot more than just 500 people get sick from eating raw meat each year in the U.S. But if only 500 people got sick eating chicken, it was due to cross-contamination or it was certainly undercooked (rather than raw). 330 million people didn't eat raw meat, either.

If 330 million people ate raw chicken, you'd easily see a few hundred million people get violently sick. All forms of food borne illnesses hit an estimated 48 million Americans each year. (2011 statistics)

Preparing meats should always be done separately, and all surfaces thoroughly washed and disinfected before preparing other foods - especially foods that aren't going to be cooked. That avoids the cross contamination that likely causes food borne illnesses.

And with those corrections, your post
makes better sense - especially in light of the fact chickens are
pathetically dirty (as in bacteria-ridden) birds.